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When students walk through the door of 2169 N. High St., they are able to pull off a feat so challenging it would impress the scientists at NASA.
They are able to drink the night away and appease their parents at the same time.
The cleverly titled Library Bar has been a staple on north campus since 1972. And since that time, not much has changed inside its wood-paneled walls.
The tables are covered in the same graffiti. The jukebox churns out the same classic rock music. Of course back then it was probably just called rock music. Students seem to appreciate the bar’s atmospheric time warp.
“I like the Library because it has (a) retro sort of feel to it,” said Sammy Usmani, a senior in biology and political science. “It’s not like 4 Kegs or The Nut House, where it shuts down and becomes something different every few years.”
Even the face behind the bar has not changed in decades. The Library Bar has been owned by Dave “Cricket” Shaw since April 1986, before some of his current customers were born.
Now 51, Shaw discovered the Library Bar during his time as an Ohio State student living in Nosker House. He took a job checking IDs at the front door in 1978, and became the manager until the bar was forced to shut down in the early 80s.
“The old owner decided that he’d rather bet on horse races than pay taxes,” Shaw said. “And the state decided he was wrong.”
The Library was opened under new management in 1983, and three years later Shaw borrowed money from his mother to buy the place.
After 22 years, Shaw is serving his second generation of customers. For some unlucky folks, the bar’s name does not do much to throw off their parents.
“You used to be able to tell your folks you were going to the Library, and they’d wonder why you came home with C-minuses,” Shaw said. “But now these kids are telling their parents the same story and it isn’t working because that’s what they told their parents 20 years ago.”
Over the years, a number of famous customers have parked themselves on stools at the Library Bar, including bands Cheap Trick, The Verve Pipe and Tonic. Most recently, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock made an appearance during his visit to Columbus in April.
But for Shaw, a die-hard Buckeyes fan, one of his greatest memories at the bar came in November, 1994.
“It was the first time the Bucks beat Michigan at home since I was owner,” Shaw said. “After all those years of getting stomped on, we finally did it. It was just incredible in here that day.”
With all the decade-spanning athletic memorabilia on display at the bar, it is not hard to see that sports are just as important to the place as mugs and shot glasses. And opening day for the Cincinnati Reds – Shaw’s favorite team – is treated like a holiday, with free peanuts and cheese Coney dogs for all.
“It’s a good place to chill and watch a game,” said Ross Martin, a senior in financial planning. “And any game you want to see is probably on a TV in there. It’s nuts.”
Senior crawl is fast approaching, meaning it is almost time for another band of Library faithful to pack up and join the real world.
“One of the sad things about this business is you get to know somebody over one or two years, and then they graduate and they’re gone forever,” Shaw said. “I always wonder what happens to some people, but it’s not their responsibility to tell me where they went.”
Student or alumnus, Buckeyes will always have a home at the Library Bar. In December, Shaw signed a new lease, ensuring he will be around until at least 2013.
Through it all, Shaw attributes the bar’s success to its unchanging ways.
“I go to a lot of places where they’re a sports bar this night, a country bar this night and a rock ‘n’ roll bar this night,” he said. “If you’re a lot of little things, you’re a bunch of nothing. Find out what you want to be, and be it.”
Kim Setliff can be reached at [email protected].
